The Many Colors of You.
Humans are complicated and life is messy. One of the many things we do to keep that theme running is miscommunicate, but before you can really communicate with someone else, you have to get on the same page with yourself.
If an 8-count box of crayons can represent your emotional spectrum, keep reading. This is about getting familiar with the super-deluxe 120-count pack, (and maybe even the nearly 200 speciality colors I counted on the on the crayola website(
Somewhere, somebody decided emotions are either good or bad. For example, happiness, love and gratification feel good, so we naturally want to do things that give us that feeling. Guilt, sadness and fear feel bad and are to be avoided. Anger spans both lists, because there’s often temporary relief in lashing out.
That’s all baloney, and here’s why: Every single one of your feelings serve a purpose, and if heeded appropriately, will help you navigate even the trickiest of situations and relationships.
Think of guilt as your emotional pain response. Pain is your body’s way of alerting you to a problem. It says “take your hand off the stove, Dummy! It’s burning!”. A healthy guilt response will let you know when you’ve behaved badly and need to adjust your behavior.
The same way guilt helps you look out for others, fear helps keep and eye on you. It’s the knot in your stomach that warns you not to take a ride from that stranger at the party, or the panic that makes you take your foot off the gas before careening out of control.
Anger is simple. It’s just mad, and everybody understands that. It’s so easy in fact we seem to want to default to it. Are you hurt? Anger. Are you confused by someone’s actions? Anger. Disappointed? Anger.
We’ve got the idea that being mad puts us in a more powerful position than being hurt. The truth is, being aware of your pain and honest enough to admit it, puts you in control because it’s the first step toward a real resolution. Reacting to a situation when you’re not sure, or not being honest, about your motivations is like taking medicine when you don’t have a proper diagnosis. At best, it won’t help; at worst, it can be dangerous.
You can't be easily abused or manipulated when you’re in tune with your real feelings. Being aware of all the shades of your emotions makes your intuition much more sensitive
Humans are emotional creatures. We can’t realistically stop ourselves from reacting emotionally to both external and internal forces. If you aren’t honest and aware of what you’re reacting to and why, your response will almost always be inappropriate, dumping more turmoil and confusion into your life. Peace is a product of learning to use your emotions as a tool, instead of being a slave to your emotional triggers.
